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As far as the toys go, I think it's completely accurate to call it "Barbie He-Man". Go on YouTube and look up some commercials. Girls only played with the dolls. They were explicitly referred to as dolls Beauty was pushed as a selling point. As un-PC as it may sound, the packaging was pink. They sold dress up costumes. She-Ra was obviously meant to merge He-Man and Barbie as a way to get boys playing along with their sisters. And that's a very good thing!

So, myself and all of the other individuals with penises who could see beyond the narrow gender roles constructed by society were actually girls? That's some interesting logic you've got there...

So, myself and all of the other individuals with penises who could see beyond the narrow gender roles constructed by society were actually girls? That's some interesting logic you've got there...

This is why it's so interesting to talk about. I think there's more socialization required to get boys and girls to play together because it's just easier for them to separate into their own playgroups. No commercials needed for that one. There are exceptions, but not enough to make it a rule, or to force it imo.

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I suppose since this can be a hot button topic, if you guys/gals want I can open this up in the tar swamp or PM me if you'd like to keep it private.

I just wish you were willing to see those characters differently now.
Of course it would help if Toyguru were willing to use those characters more... Unfortunately, he seems to want to "cute-up" those characters (see Frosta's bio) as opposed to giving them some edge (see Orko or Mosquitor's bios).

I'll be happy when we get a great rebellion bio with some blood in it... When we find out that Perfuma helped slaughter Mosquitor's people after they tried to destroy the Whispering Woods.

Agreed. I thought I was the only one who felt that way. I hate the way the POP bios "cute-up", as you said, the characters. I wish the characters would be portrayed more seriously. I liked to see something in maybe Sweet Bee's bio that states Mosquitor killed her family.

Originally Posted by Inhibitor

Yeah, I have two younger sisters who actually had some She-Ra stuff when we were kids. I can tell you that girls and boys play very, very differently and it would take more than a doll/figure hybrid to affect that.

I gotta respectfully disagree.

Some of my best friends in my childhood were girls and they played no differently than me when we played together with our figures. It didn't matter if it was MOTU or even GIJOE. The best thing about POP to me as a child was that it allowed my female friends to have more characters to play with. Before POP, the pickings were pretty slim. They played with some male figures, mostly villains, but for the most part is was the female figures. They had all of the Horde figures to help recreate the POP cartoon and one of my female friends even had a Fright Zone playset. On the flipside, I owned a Kowl figure. Bow though was just too scrawny for the world of MOTU IMO.